It was the end of 2023. I had recently relocated to Orlando, Florida. I couldn’t help but notice the amount of homelessness as I drove through Apopka, Florida, through the intersection of Edgewater and John Young Parkway. My heart was moved with compassion, and I decided to make sack lunches consisting of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a piece of fruit, a bottle of water, some snacks, and a tract. I would make 10-20 lunches weekly.
A woman from Maranatha Church in Apopka heard about what I was doing, and asked if she could go with me. She came to my house the next week, and assisted me in preparing and distributing the lunches. I think we made about 20 that day. The next week another individual at church approached me and stated that they would like to go out as well. That week someone else reached out and asked me to send a list of all the items needed to prepare the lunches, and they would purchase them for me. We made about 40 lunches that day. One gentleman we approached, we asked if he would like a sack lunch, and he hung his head and said he had not eaten anything since the day before. We gave him two lunches. When we finished, the woman who went out with me said, “We must do this again.” I replied, “Sure, we will go back next week.” She said, “No I meant today!” I said, “Okay!” We purchased more items, and made more lunches and distributed them. That day we made about 92 lunches.
The following Sunday, Maranatha Church board met and voted for the Maranatha Café to become an official ministry of the church.
The members began to show up weekly to assist with preparing the lunches, and the numbers grew from 92 to more than 200. Two others and I began the effort to distribute the lunches. But, as the numbers continued to grow, more drivers came on board to distribute the meals. We were able to cover more territory with more volunteers in less time.
During Thanksgiving of 2024, we prepared a Thanksgiving meal with turkey and dressing and all the fixings. We took prepared Thanksgiving meals to various areas we serviced. We even had sweet potato pie or pumpkin pie for dessert. We made 250-300 meals that day. We went out the Sunday before Thanksgiving. It was total member involvement, as young and old showed up to volunteer. It was a beautiful sight with the entire church coming together working as one.
At the end of 2024, we had made and distributed more than 10,000 sack lunches to our unhoused community. Each week they say, “Thank you!” and tell us how happy they are to receive the sack lunch.
Strangers driving down the street see us passing out the sack lunches and yell out their windows, “God bless you for what you are doing.” Some of the recipients give us hugs and some ask for prayer.
One gentleman often found in Apopka was one day missed by the team. The team wondered what happened to him. Then one day while at a bus stop, they came across the gentleman and asked where he had been. He told them that he had found housing, and his situation had changed. What joy that was to see God working and changing the lives of the unhoused community.
At the end of 2025, we distributed more than 25,000 lunches, due largely to Second Harvest Food Bank and a $2,500 grant fund. God has blessed tremendously as we have partnered with various organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank, Costco, and Food Recovery. They donate food and other items that can be used to assist the ministry. Recently, we received the “New Agency of the Year Award” from Second Harvest.
We have several volunteers with the Maranatha Café who are not members of the church. They heard what we were doing and wanted to be part of it.
In December 2025, while distributing the lunches, a woman stopped some members of the team at Lake Eola. She told them, as they were loading up and preparing to leave, “Thank you for what you all do.” She told them how she had lost her job and had become homeless. She said the ministry sustained her with food and hope, and reported that she now had a job as a psychologist, child advocate. Praise God!
God has truly blessed the Maranatha Café. What a day it will be to be in the Kingdom of God, if someone taps us on the shoulder and says, “It’s because of you that I am here. I was hungry and you gave me a sack lunch. I read the tract and gave my heart to Jesus.” Only what we do for Christ will last. So, today, let’s do all we can for His glory!
Maranatha Café is a ministry of the Maranatha Church. The ministry currently facilitates the feeding of the unsheltered every Wednesday to the surrounding areas, and provides soup and prayer to the sick and shut-in members every second and fourth Monday. At the beginning of 2026, Maranatha Café was awarded $10,000 in grant funds from Second Harvest Food Bank, to purchase food items throughout the year. The grant funds will allow the ministry to serve an even larger population.
Southeastern | April 2026
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